Card Making - Sets Continue

I switched the designer paper to Well Worn which gives me masculine cards for variety.

These a DSP Splits which means I cut the designer paper to 4.00 x 5.25 inches then cut again at 3.5 inches.  

This designer paper is double sided so I can just turn the small piece over and tape it on the back scotch tape and I have the same size layer to work with. on the left I add a piece of Crumb Cake card stock and a strip of Not Quite Navy.  I used my square punch to punchout some square to repeat the pattern on the left hand side of the card. I then glued a few of the small punchies on the right hand side with Bling Zots. 

Another set of cards with theWell Worn Designer Paper Set.

I cut the designer paper to leave a small border on the Crumb Cake card base.  On th left I created an accent with the Tim Holtz Bracket die in Cajun Craze, then a strip of Crumb Cake then a strip of Not Quite Navy.  I adhered these the added 3 holes. I strung some shiny cord through them and knotted it at the center front. I added a star brad through the center hole.  This accent was then adhered to the card front. On the right, I created an accent with a piece of So Saffron card stock riipped on the right. Added a strip of Cajun Craze and a narrow strip of Not Quite Navy.  I then poked holes on either side of the navy and using a large needle stitched the criss cross pattern over it with yellow yarn. 

Again, A2 size with white quarter sheet inserts and white envelopes.

Thank You Cards - Finally Set 2

The card base is SU Taken with Teal in the A2 size in portrait orientation.

Trimmed the rough edges off this piece and ripped the bottom edge.

I saw flowers in the salt marks in this piece so I took my fine black marker and drew them in.

Added stems and leaves reaching to the bottom of the paper with additional grassy strokes.

It pays to save bits of ephemera.  The green yarn came in really handy.

The A2 card base is SU Pumpkin Pie with a watecolor panel marked with saran wrap on wet color and left to dry.

I punched 4 holes with the 1/8 inch punch. Two on the right and 2 on the left.  I taped the end of the green yarn found in the stash and was able string it through the holes and knot both ends.

I added a SU Artisan Label punchie colored with pencils and held on the yarn with a orange clip.

With the yarn still on my table I used in this card.

I trimmed the waterolor to crisp straight edges.

I layed a strip of double sided tape to the back of the watercolor piece.  Layed my pieces of green yarn then added another piece of ds tape and adhered it to the SU Dusty Durango card base.

Once adhered, I picked apart the strands of the yarn to create this wavy row of goodness.

I added an 2 inch oval punchie greeting below the yarn frill.

The A2 card base is SU Island Indigo.

I added a piece of SU ribbon in So Saffron and flagged the bottom end.  Trimmed the top edge to the top of the card.

I mounted the piece of rough edge watercolor panel over the ribbon aligned along the top.

Each card has a white quarter sheet insert with a white envelope.

Slow Stitching - No. 043 - Sensory Stitching

K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitching Challenge 2024.

Week 43 - Sensory Stitching

This week's focus is using our senses when stitching.

The sense of touch as we are stitching. How does it feel when the needle and thread goes through different fabric? Elements to excite our sight as we see our piece. Do we hear the needle as it goes through stiff fabric?

I chose a black fabric with a hint of herringbone texture to it.

I added the couched yarn, the button, the pom pom trim, the lace, the corduroy and the netting for my fingers. 

The button and colors for my eyes. 

The taffeta fabric below the button certainly engaged my ears as the needle went through that fabric.  Also there was printing on the piece of white tone on tone fabric in the bottom left hand corner and as I put in my seed stitches it was more difficult to push through the printed areas.

Slow Stitching - No. 040 - Enso Circle

K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitching Challenge 2024

Week 40 - Enso Circle - Zen Buddhist philosophy - symbolizes an expression of life, showing both the beginning and end

My top layer is linen and my foundation cloth is similar.

I used a large tip permanent Sharpie marker to make my mark.

It is quite open.

I couched variegated yarn onto my marker shape. I have green to blue in the colors. The inner one I stitched in blue and the outer one in green. 

I like the puckering of the fabric which has taken place.  I place the pieces so the color were offset.

It looked a little empty so I put a shell button in the bottom.

Slow Stitching - No. 038 - Nature's Textures

 K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitching Challenge 2024

Week 38 - Nature's Textures - Free Form Embroidery - Textile Textures

I chose the polka dot fabric as my inspiration then chose colors from there. Pink bright and paler, grey light and dark and white.

There is cotton, yarn, felt, lace, cheesecloth, and gauzy material included in this piece.

Free form embroidery includes couching, French Knots, running stitch to fill in space in places, seed stitches for finer fabric, and top stitches on the felt heart.

The thread alternated from pink to grey depending on the fabric I was working on.

Slow Stitching - No. 032 - Inspired by Judy Martin

I am catching up on my slow stitching now that the floor has been installed and all the furniture is back in place.

This is week 32 of K3N Cloth Tale's Slow Stitching challenge.  Prompt - Inspired by Judy Martin. K saw Judy's show in Birmingham but was inspired by an older piece.

The piece took 3 years (over 1000 days) to complete and was over 200 feet long and titled "Not to know but to go on".  The idea to stitch every day and take things as it comes. 

I chose the items to couch from one of my scrap bags and just laid them down as they came along. Started with one color and just changed as that one ran out.  I couched yarn, ribbon, rickrack and cording.  I really loved how the tiny rick rack looked couched. All kinds of ways to stitch it as well. Of course, there is as many colors as the rainbow.  I then stitched in between the couched rows till I was happy with the whole piece from either side.

Not sure how this will make it into my squares as it is too long.  Can I fold it effectively, I am not sure.  

Slow Stitching Fabric Collage

This is my Boxing Day project.

I am thinking of doing a slow stitch fabric collage project.  It will be fairly large so I thought I would dip my toe and see what it was like.

This piece is about 6x6 inches.  I used some yellow thread from Mom's stash. It is quite heavy compared to embroidery thread.  My needles leave a little bit to be desired. Too thick but the second one was pointy enough.

I dipped into the small stash of fabric I gathered for the large project.  I chose fabric, lace, yarn, and felt.

It took about 6 hours to do this piece.  

I am happy with it. I did not baste the pieces to begin with but that is very important on hind sight.

The middle stage is quite chaotic looking so you just have to move forward and add the other bits.  I was tempted to add buttons but until I know where it will be used I will refrain from adding that kind of texture. I did add a layer of white fabric to cover the back. 

It's a Tactile Show - My Submission

It's a Tactile World is a joint show with the Sculptor’s Association of Alberta and the Allied Arts Council.  We received a good number of entries from our art club so I think this will be a great show.

The reception is Saturday, April 15th 1-3 pm.

My piece is titled - Alberta Skies. 

It measures 12.5" in diameter and is about 18 inches tall.

It was woven as an abstract but when I came to title it I rotated several different ways and hung it on the wall to see what spoke to me.

This presentation made me think of our blue skies, the yellow is for sure sunshine color, some of the blues make me think of water and the wavy frilly piece makes me think of wheat or canola fields.

I  kept the colors cohesive and I am happy with how it turned out.

This is my first attempt at a weaving project.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

A red barn on my road trip to the country a couple weeks ago. 

It was before the snow came.

I loved the red and green colors - dare I say the Christmas colors.

We have had snow and last night it rained and now it's all gone again.  I guess it will not be white for Halloween at the end of the week.

 

It was very interesting to read another of Amy's books.  This one takes place in China in the early 1900's.   Violet is the main character who is growing up in a courtesan house owned and managed by her mother Lulu who is an American.  They are living in Shanghai in the International Settlement under China's last imperial dynasty.  They see the collapse and how that affects businesses and trade.  They see the consequences of the 1918 Influenza epidemic.  It was eerie to be reading about that one during this one.

This is a story of strong relationships between female characters.  Violet suffers a long heartbreak, tragedy, betrayal in her young life. But with faithful friends she makes it through.

I really enjoyed the book.

Another set of skeins of yarn for my afghan.  

Beautiful blue color from my sister. 

Will have to work on finding an actual pattern for a classic granny square. 

I have owned this set of hooks since my early twenties.  Nice to some things last a long time. 

This is the crane that is used to build a new high rise close to my place.  I could not see it this summer because of the leaves but now I can see it pretty well.

I manage to get it sparkling in the sun through the trees one morning. 

Construction has not really slowed down here during the epidemic.  Glad to see some people kept their jobs. 

I will have to take a walk and check out how tall the structure is becoming.

The Flickr Macro Monday Challenge this week was "One Color".  You can check my Photostream (SMDPics) to see my submission.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a walk yesterday with extra layers on just to get out of the house and see something other 4 walls and give my leg some exercise.

There are a lot of leaves on the ground and they make a lovely sound when I walked through them. 

There were big snowflakes falling for a few minutes.  In my neighbourhood we don't have snow on the ground yet.  I am surrounded by many areas that do have snow on the grassy areas.

I took this shot from very near the ground to have some good depth of field. 

Love the few snowflakes captured at the same time.

This is "Frank the Owl".  He is a multicolored glass figurine from Piers 1. He was rescued by my sister from the trash and donated to me. 

I love his big blue eyes.  He is very cute and has no chips or damage of any kind.  Thank you sister. His body is multi - colored glass with orange feet and beak.

I love glass despite that at times it is hard to photograph.

The navy yarn arrived with my sister from my Mom's house.  This is what I will assemble my new afghan when the squares are complete.  

I checked my old files this morning. Wow, I did a lot of crocheting in my twenties. Many were given away as gifts. I have 2 which stayed with me.

I have documented what yarn I used but not the size of the crochet hook or the pattern.  I will have to get started and do some sample squares to get them to 6.00 inches.  

Thanks to my sister again I have had 3 meals of turkey dinner.  Turkey with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and dressing with garden fresh carrots. 

It was very good and another thank you to my sister.

On my walk yesterday I stopped at the recycle center and rescued these 3 books from a box.  I will quarantine them for a couple of weeks.

I have been reading a lot being at home so much so I need a regular injection of new ones.  I think our libraries are open but I have not been visiting them.

Winter has come very quickly to our area.  These flowers were still around.  The first is Pink Yarrow, the middle is a dried Echinacea or Cone Flower and there were still roses and buds.

 

"String" is the challenge for Flickr Macro Monday today.  The photo on the left is one of a few I took for the challenge.  It is a clay button with a jute bow.

You can check my Photostream SMDPics to see which photo I submitted. 

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #101  and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #262.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I have been laid low with health issues and finally this week my energy is back.

I have gotten very few shots of Blue Jays but last week I got this one.

I was so excited.  He had been foraging on the ground which helped me spot him.  I did get a few shots on the ground but would prefer a tree shot.  

He then accommodated me and sat there for a very short while before he flew off into the wild blue yonder.

I finished this book during my low energy phase.  It is a memoir so a true story.  A woman of the world but struggles with mental health.  When she decides to settle down and have kids she suffers a miscarriage first then has a baby but by then the partner is gone!

She builds a group of people to be her "family".  Her mom and brother are involved but there is the nanny Tita which I believe saved her life.  She became an employee, a partner, and a friend during the critical first 3 years of her baby's life.  There were several others who came in and out of her life at critical points.  She had the capacity to embrace these folks which is wonderful.

Great story of adapting, going with the flow, discernment, hurt, process emotions and just moving forward when you are lost.

This is an afghan I crocheted in the 1970s.  Can you tell?  The oranges, the browns were primary colors in that period. 

Interesting how being sick makes some things clearer.  I have decided that I would like a more "me" afghan for my bed so I put the call out of free yarn when I researched the price of new.

My aunt dug through her stash and donated some.  My Mom called the other day and said she had some I could have.   I have no idea how much I need so I will have adjust along the way.

This is the stash I was given with no orange or brown visible.  

I have to dig through my box of patterns to see if I can find the original "granny square" pattern and the size of hook I used.

I have decided to assemble the squares with navy which Mom has donated.

Great watching TV project for the winter.

This book I gave up on about half way through.  Having sex is what everyone here is doing and that is mostly what the author was focusing on.

Not my idea of a great book.

I am back to getting outside for photos.  This is a pond on my road trip this week. Decided to head to the country rather that compete with people at popular destinations.  We still have Canada Geese here as the weather overall has been great. No frost or s**w yet. I love the reflections of the old sticks of wood in the water.  A goose feather where they had been bedding down.

The challenge at Flicker Macro Monday is Translucent.  Here, I have shot a glass star behind a textured glass tile.  I love how just the wire which is closest to the tile is in focus and the rest is not.  You can check out Photostream SMDPics to see the shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #100 and

Mersad who hosts Through my Lens #261